A different tactic
by gendrogen
Summary: One-shot. Set during the chunin exams; Sakura's fight with the Otogakure ninjas goes differently than the 'canon'. She finds a way to keep her long hair. She doesn't gain any special powers or a jinchuriki; she just uses something that she disregards a lot, her brain. (one-shot)


**I don't own Naruto. R&R**

* * *

"Lee what's wrong!" Sakura screamed.

"S-S-Sakura," Lee stammered before falling to the ground.

The taijutsu user was nearing unconsciousness as he lay on the cold dirt floor of the Forest of Death. He felt a consistent throbbing sensation next to his left ear. Though he didn't know it yet, his ear drum was shattered. Small quivers of blood seeped down the left side of his face. He wanted badly to empty the contents of his stomach. Not only did he feel nauseas, his vision seemed to be impaired. He barely made out Sakura's pink figure but the rest of the forest was a blur.

The forest did nothing but hinder Lee's vision. The sun would have been helpful in a predicament like this but the thick trees blocked every ray.

* * *

Sakura stood up weakly; still from the shock of what the Otogakure ninja did to Lee, and screamed.

"What have you done to Lee?"

The Oto ninja began to chuckle.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart? I come from Otogakure so manipulating sound is my specialty."

The Otogakure ninja then began to roll down the right sleeve of his dark grey poncho. Encased on his arm was a metal cylindrical object.

'What's that?' Sakura thought.

"This is my sound amplifier, or as I like to say my melody arm. Now . . . what makes it possible for the ear to hear things?"

"Vibrations . . . but what does that have to do with Lee?"

"I was getting there; the vibrations of molecules in the air create sound waves. Sound waves that can be heard from the ear and sent directly into the ear drum. The ear drum ruptures when it's exposed to 150 decibels or more. If the sound upsets the fluid in the deepest part of the ear canals than it will be impossible for you to remain balanced. Your worthless friend is experiencing some of this as I speak."

"But Lee's attack, he hit you dead on with his Omote Renge," Sakura said.

"That's where I come into play little lady," the second Otogakure ninja said.

The ninja lifted up his hands showing Sakura both of his palms. Both his palms had small metal holes in the center.

"These are my air tubes. They allow me to manipulate air pressure. I can crumble large rocks or make the earth softer than a bed. That's how Dosu survived your friends attack. If I wouldn't have been there in time, Dosu would have been biting the dust."

'What am I up against freaks?' Sakura thought.

"Now let's finish this so I can move onto Sasuke," Dosu said.

* * *

Dosu started sprinting towards Sakura with his melody arm extended outwards. Sakura's knees started to buckle and her brow began to sweat but she bravely pulled out a kunai.

"Sakura!" Lee said.

Lee pushed himself up and clumsily ran towards Sakura to protect her.

"It's remarkable that you can still stand . . . but it's all the same," Dosu said mockingly.

Dosu, closing the gap between himself and Sakura, extended out his arm and lunged forward towards her. Lee jumped between them while putting up a head block. His block found Dosu's melody arm creating sound waves throughout the air. The sound waves didn't reach far, they barely got to Sakura, but they were strong in Lee's ears.

"Lee!" Sakura cried.

"The vibrations of the impact are transforming into a wave of sound. A wave of sound that I can control with my chakra and redirect into any target I desire. That target is you!"

Lee's body crumpled to the ground but he managed to sputter out one last sentence before falling unconscious.

"Sakura . . . I'm . . . sorry."

Sakura reached towards her hip to pull out three kunai from her weapon pouch. The kunai were smooth and cold. They also looked to be new. Sakura flung the kunai towards Dosu hoping they would land. Dosu instinctively raised his melody arm, blocking the poorly thrown kunai in the process.

'How?' Sakura thought.

"I'd almost forgotten about you," Dosu said.

Dosu began to crack his head and let of a little killing intent to scare the girl. While this was going on a small conversation, more so whispers, was being held behind bushes.

* * *

"Guys this is bad, we should leave now," a big boned boy said fearfully.

"This is getting bad for Sakura. Lee's out and so are her teammates, it's just her against the three from Otogakure. So what do you want to do?" a black haired boy said.

"Why are you looking at me, I-I don't know what to do. It's her fault she's in this situation," a blonde girl said.

'It's not my problem,' the blonde thought.

"So what's your answer?" the black haired boy said.

"Why are you asking me this? I don't know what to do," the blonde said.

"You two use to be friends-"

"Yeah USE to be friends!" the blonde said with a little authority.

"Well if we don't do something she's going to end up dead," the black haired boy said.

'Sakura . . . is our rivalry really worth your life? If you died than Sasuke would be all mine. But . . . you'd be gone. Our friendship was nice . . . before you started liking him. Could I deal with loosing you? How would your parents react if they knew your death could have been prevented if I stepped in? Damn it Ino stop! The girls not even dead; I'm sure Sakura will do fine without my teams help. Besides we can't even fight. But we'd have a better opportunity of winning with us four against those three. Asuma I need your help!' Ino thought.

"So what do you want to do?" the black haired boy said.

"Why do you keep asking me that Shikamaru? Do you want us to go out there and get killed?" Ino said.

* * *

Dosu's killing intent was working on Sakura. She was shaking more then before and her palms were growing sweaty. She could barely keep her grasp on her kunai. Sakura slowly took deep breathes and quickly exchanged her kunai for three shuriken.

"I'm not going down without a fight," Sakura said.

'I can do this,' she thought.

Sakura flicked her shuriken at Dosu who stood still and calm. A flash of beige was seen between Sakura and Dosu. The flash was the second Otogakure ninja sprinting towards the shuriken.

"Zankuha!" the 'oto' ninja shouted.

Visible air waves jetted out of the 'oto' ninjas hands and bounced back the shuriken. Luckily none of them hit Sakura.

The air continued to push Sakura to the point where she lost her balance and began to fall. The third member of the Otogakure team dashed towards Sakuras' backside and grabbed a fist full of her pink locks. This submission hold left Sakura on her knees unable to do anything.

"Such soft and shiny hair," the third Otogakure ninja purred.

"You know what? If you spent more time practicing your jutsu and less time shampooing and conditioning, you might not be in this predicament," the third Otogakure ninja said.

"Kunoichi like you give us REAL kunoichi like me bad reputations. All of you girly kunoichi make me sick," the third Otogakure ninja said with spite.

"Kin, stop messing around and finisher her off," Dosu said.

"What a shame, I was going to toy with you some more," Kin said with emphasis on the word 'toy'.

"What's wrong with you?" Sakura said.

Sakuras' remark rewarded her with a knee to the side of the head by Kin.

"Shut it bitch!" Kin spat.

"How am I the bitch? You're pulling my hair," Sakura retorted.

Again Sakura's comment left her with a nasty attack to the head. This time Kin purposely used almost all of her weight. The knee left Sakura shaken up and bruised badly.

* * *

'What type of ninja are you Sakura? Always on the sidelines, never helping anyone. You're useless and that's all you'll ever be. You're just sitting here putting your teammates lives in jeopardy. If I was stronger this wouldn't happen! Damn it why am I the one who always gets saved. I thought maybe just maybe a time like this would allow me to do something but look where I'm at now,' Sakura thought.

Tears emerged in Sakura's eyes and slowly descended down her face.

"Hey Zaku, why don't you kill Sasuke in front of the girl," Kin said.

'Don't you even lay a hand on Sasuke!' Sakura thought while jerking forward.

"Don't even think about it," Kin said while roughly jerking Sakura's head back.

'It's all my fault. Sasuke's going to die because of me.'

**'Not on my account!'**

'Inner?'

**'In the flesh . . . sort of'**

'Well what can I do?'

**'Stop being useless'**

'Real funny'

**'I try I try. Sakura what's your greatest strength?'**

'I don't know, I'm not much of a ninja compared to Sasuke or Naruto'

**'Stupid it's your brain. You're smarter than everyone on the battle field so use that to your advantage'**

'But how is wit going to help me in a battle of brawns'

**'By outsmarting the others. You'll get pummeled if you try taijutsu so use your other skills'**

'Like what; Kakashi didn't teach my any ninjutsu and I don't know a single genjutsu'

**'Oh . . . well stick with your smarts and kick some ass, shannaro!'**

'But-'

* * *

Inner Sakura vanished before the real Sakura could ask anything more. Sakura closed her eyes and thought about what to do. When Zaku inched closer to Sasuke, Sakura had finished devising her battle strategy. Sakura slowly pulled out a kunai and pointed it towards Kin.

"That's not going to work on me," Kin said bitterly.

"How do I know that for sure? You haven't displayed any physical alterations like your other two teammates," Sakura replied.

Kin's response was said slowly and awkwardly for no one had questioned her logic before, "W-W-Well I can still pummel you!"

"No you won't; your teammates have done all of the fighting and you just stood in the background. This means one of three things: your taijutsu skills are terrible, you attack long range or your team isn't confident in your abilities. Also kunoichi are naturally weaker than their male counterparts so I don't think that you'll be much," Sakura said.

Kin's little authority she had over Sakura was now destroyed. A blank expression was displayed on her face.

'So she's a 'miss know it all.' I bet she's all bark and no bite; she doesn't even know what I can do. I just need to keep my poise and stay strong, even if all of the three things she stated are true,' Kin thought.

"You don't even know me or what I can do so I'd remain silent if I were you!" Kin barked.

Kin reached into her weapon pouch and pulled out three senbon. She raised them towards Sakura in an attempt to look menacing.

'Good she's distracted. Just a little more taunts and my plan will work," Sakura thought.

Sakura slowly put her hands behind her back with a kunai in her right hand.

"What are you going to do stick me to death? Senbon are only useful in medical procedures or in the hands of one who knows the vital points well. You look too stupid to know anything about the human body. Stick to kunai and shuriken 'hun',' Sakura said.

Kin's composure slowly started to deteriorate. Her face flushed with anger and her hands started shaking.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you," Kin said with a bark.

'Perfect, you fell for it,' Sakura thought.

Sakura slowly outstretched her right arm so that it was near Kin's leg. Kin was too angry with Sakura to notice her arm. Sakura took her kunai and plunged it into Kins' calf. Kin howled in pain and let go of Sakura's hair. Kin then fell to the ground clutching her calf as blood pumped out of it. Sakura popped up and grabbed Kin's head so that she was in a head lock. Sakura also pulled the kunai out from Kin's calf and held it toward her throat.

"Give me a reason not to kill your teammate," Sakura demanded.

Zaku looked surprised but Dosu kept his composure. Dosu began to chuckle as did Zaku and they both started walking towards Sakura.

"Do you not care about your teammate?" Sakura questioned.

"Of course not little girl. Our mission is to kill Sasuke," Dosu said flatly.

"You're crazy; don't you care about becoming a chunin?" Sakura said.

"Silly titles mean nothing to us. All that matters is serving our lord, Orochimaru, and completing his mission," Dosu said.

'They're affiliated with that creep,' Sakura thought.

"What has that creep done to Sasuke," Sakura screamed.

"Hehe he's given him a . . . sort of present. Now if you don't mind I'd like to finish my mission. Zaku eliminate them," Dosu said.

Zaku pulled his arms up while looking as foul as Dosu.

"You wouldn't," Sakura said.

"I would," Zaku stated.

"Z-Zaku," Kin coughed.

"Don't look at me like that Kin. You got yourself into that mess so it's not my job to rescue you. Besides, you were weak enough to let 'pinkie' deceive you so what use would you serve Dosu and I?" Zaku said.

"Zankuha!" Zaku shouted.

Sakura released her hold on Kin and started a series of hand signs.

'Kawarimi no jutsu,' Sakura thought.

Sakura replaced herself with a log when the impact hit but Kin had a much worse fate. The sound waves swept her off her feet and threw her violently twenty feet backwards. When she hit the ground, her right arm was bent in an unnatural position and both her ankles were twisted.

'Jack asses! Some teammates I have,' Kin thought before falling unconscious.

* * *

Sakura chose to reappear in a nearby tree. From the tree she could see the whole battlefield, including Sasuke and Naruto.

'They're strong; I may be able to fight the one with air holes but the one with the melody arm will be a challenge. Confronting either of them with taijutsu is definitely not an option. No ninjutsu I know is strong enough to take on them either. Come on Sakura think," she thought.

Sakura closed her eyes briefly; she opened them and spotted a trap she set that was never activated. The trap was about twenty meters from the tree she was seated in.

'That'll work but it will have to be for the one with the arm,' Sakura thought.

"Dosu, have you found her?" Zaku said.

"No but I have a good idea how to," Dosu said.

Dosu knelt down and placed his ear to the ground. He channeled chakra into his ear and heard the vibrations of the forest. Through this technique, he heard Sakura reach into her weapon pouch.

"Zaku she's in that tree," Dosu said while pointing.

Zaku raised his arms towards the tree Sakura was hiding in and said, "Zankukyokuha."

The more powerful version of zankuha leveled parts of the tree Sakura was in and destroyed smaller trees around it. Sakura was smart enough to use kawarimi before Zaku attacked. She appeared a few feet away from the Otogakure ninjas and threw smoke bombs towards them.

'Where's she at,' Dosu thought angrily.

Sakura was in the process of wrapping a wire around a kunai before she was pushed back by a zankuha that was aimed towards her right side. Following the attack, the smoke cleared revealing a panting Zaku and a frustrated Dosu.

"Found you," Zaku said with a crazed smile.

'I need to separate both of them for my plan to work,' Sakura thought.

* * *

Dosu began charging towards her while Zaku stood back and caught his breath. Dosu was in striking range of Sakura but she did a back handspring to create distance. Halfway through her flip, Sakura's only poison pellet fell out of her pouch and broke. The poison quickly encased Dosu but Sakura only got a 'whiff' of it.

'Damn that was supposed to be for later,' Sakura thought.

Sakura ran towards Zaku until she was about fifteen feet away from him. She looked over her shoulder and saw Dosu struggling to escape the poison cloud. She grinned then pulled out her kunai with wire.

"Like that will work on me," Zaku said cockily.

"That's what Kin said and look what happened to her," Sakura retorted.

Sakura began to swing the wire in a circle. The kunai attached to the wire lifted from the ground and began to swing in the same motion as the rest of the wire. Sakura swung the weapon in two large circles above her head before she swung it towards Zaku.

"Zankuha," Zaku said.

The weapon bounced back towards Sakura. She used its momentum to swing it back around in a circle and attack Zaku a second time. Zaku kept using zankuha without realizing that his chakra was depleting. He did however realize that his chakra was almost gone by the fifth strike because he had to push a little extra for his air to come out.

Sakura did a double take around her shoulder and saw that Dosu was regaining mobility from the poison. She however chose the wrong moment to look back because her weapon had bounced back from Zaku's air and plunged itself into her thigh. Sakura hissed in pain.

"What kind of ninja forgets about their weapons," Zaku taunted.

Sakura painfully took out the kunai and threw it at Zaku. This time around, Zaku didn't use zankuha, he ducked his head. Sakura took out one of her three remaining kunai and two shuriken and flung them all at Zaku. Zaku dodged them all sloppily. He frequently took deep breathes and had sweat streaming down his face. Sakura reached once more into her weapon pouch and pulled out one kunai and one shuriken. She carefully wrapped the kunai in an exploding tag but Zaku didn't catch this.

"You're just going to keep throwing weapons at me, real original," Zaku said.

"I'm bound to hit you one of these times," Sakura said.

Sakura threw the shuriken and Zaku responded by dropping to his knees. Sakura then threw the kunai towards Zaku's left shoulder. Zaku leaned a little to the right thinking that the attack was over.

"Kai," Sakura shouted.

The kunai explosion happened near Zaku's back so the force pushed him forwards. He landed on his face unconscious. The left side of his shirt was burnt off; burns could be seen starting from his left shoulder and flowing down to his palm. His back looked to be slightly burned.

* * *

Sakura looked back to see if Dosu was still near the poison but he was gone.

'Where is h-'

Sakuras thought was cut off by the impact of Dosu's punch. Sakura's arms and legs flew up as she was pushed back by the force of the punch. Sakura was sprawled out on the ground; her ears felt on fire, her vision began to go through an aura phase and her stomach felt unsettling.

'Did I get hit by his arm?' Sakura thought.

Dosu confirmed Sakura's question by lifting up his melody arm and advancing forward.

"You put up some fight against my team but this is where it stops. You may have outsmarted my foolish teammates but you're no match for me," Dosu huffed.

Dosu was still feeling the effects of the poison so his advance on Sakura was slow. This didn't matter because Sakura was struggling to raise her arms.

"Though I must admit one thing, you're smarter than you look," Dosu said a couple feet away from Sakura.

Sakura flailed her right arm and touched a discarded kunai. She tilted her head and barely made out the shape of a wire a couple inches to her right. Dosu, at Sakura's toes, pulled down up sleeve, revealing his melody arm once again, and prepared to strike. In a last effort, Sakura grabbed the kunai and cut the wire.

"So long," Dosu said.

Dosu punched Sakura in her gut releasing sound waves. The sound waves were louder than usual; they were almost as loud as the sound of howling wind.

'Wait wind?' Dosu thought.

Dosu cocked his head back and saw a huge falling log with white specks coming towards him. He looked back down towards the semi-unconscious Sakura and read her lips.

"Kai," Sakura said.

* * *

**Termonolgy:**

- Otogakure (village hidden in the sound)

- Zankuha (slicing sound wave)

- Zankukyokuha (supersonic slicing wave)

- Kawarimi no jutsu (body replacement technique)


End file.
